For Richer, For Poorer
by petals-to-fish
Summary: "You're stupid." She told him and he scoffed at her insult, throwing his arm back around her shoulder to lead her towards the ice cream shop. She was in love with him. She was in love with his stupid smiles, his stupid jokes, and his stupid rich family.


**Anon Request: Hi! I just came across a fic search for when james takes lily to his vault and thought that you might write this.**

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 _"Shit."_

Lily Evans frowned at her less-than-eloquent boyfriend as he dug through his pockets looking for something. The woman in front of them in the line at the ice cream shop also frowned greatly at them. Lily smiled at the woman before shooting James another glance; he was running his hands up and down his robes as if searching for something on his person.

"What's wrong with you?" she couldn't help laughing at his ridiculous face as he dug his fingers deep into his pockets.

James pulled out the empty insides of his pockets, "I forgot my money!" he exclaimed.

Lily rolled her eyes and reached for her purse, "Then I'll pay."

"No!" James exclaimed, yanking her from the line and she groaned as they passed two women holding nice looking ice cream cones.

Lily stomped her feet repeatedly, trying to get James to stop pulling her by the arm. It didn't work. He was such a boy. He couldn't go shopping on his own, he couldn't let his girlfriend pay for a bit of ice cream, and he couldn't hear her annoyance as they left the ice cream shop.

"James seriously!" she argued as James yanked open the store door, "It's fine."

"It'll take us half an hour _at most_ for me to run to Gringotts and get money from the family vault." James argued back, "Come on, I'll buy you dinner _and_ an ice cream. I've got to get the money if I want to buy the boys their Christmas gifts."

Lily wrapped her cloak around her as the cold winter air wafted through the open door to the ice cream shop.

"Come on Lily, it'll take no time." James rolled his eyes as she rolled hers, "I'm not letting my girlfriend pay for ice cream on a date that I asked her on, not when I can get money from right down the road."

James wrapped his arm around her waist as they walked away from the ice cream shop. Diagon Alley was empty, despite it being Christmas holidays. It seemed that James had picked the perfect time to go Christmas shopping. He'd written Lily the day before, begging her to go with him so they could find the perfect gift for his best friends. Lily supposed she should have known he'd insist on paying for anything she wanted.

He was such a chivalrous git sometimes.

The streets were lined in Christmas lights and snow was falling lightly from the sky. Lily supposed ice cream wasn't the best idea since she was shivering in her boots but the hot fudge sundae was calling her name. She wondered if after ice cream she could get James to stop back into the Leaky Cauldron before they shopped for spiced cider. Lily hadn't seen one familiar face on the wizarding street, not even when the passed the popular store Quality Quidditch Supplies.

Gringrott's was empty too so when James and Lily entered the bank one of the goblins on staff appeared immediately. The goblin bowed low to James, his long nose brushing the floor. The goblin shot Lily one look beneath his long lashes and Lily waved lightly at the goblin. James pulled Lily in tightly to his side.

"How may I be of service?" the Goblin didn't sound friendly but Lily had never actually met a friendly goblin.

"I need to go to the Potter Vault." James said and when the goblin's eyes passed over to Lily in question James added in a definitive tone, "As soon as possible if you please."

"Follow me." The goblin swept them towards a door, grabbing a handful of keys off the lock.

James and Lily walked arm in arm through the doorway and Lily was surprised to see that they were not in a room filled with tiny locked compartments filled with money. Instead, there was a room filled with more intricately designed keys. The goblin went to the left wall and picked up an ornamental key decorated with a strange symbol on the end.

"Where are we going?" Lily asked James with wonder, "Why aren't we going to the vaults?"

James stared at her in surprise, "We are."

Lily blinked quizzically, "When you say vaults…do you mean a safe?"

"Don't you have a vault?" James asked her, "What's a safe?"

Lily suddenly realized that this was another instance where her muggle upbringing had her questioning James' world. It was very clear to her that wizard's didn't have banks like muggles. When Lily's parents needed money they went to an ATM. It seemed that when James needed money there was a process a little more complicated than a withdrawal system.

"I don't need a vault." Lily replied as the goblin led the couple away from the room of keys, "I exchange my parent's muggle money twice a year."

"Oh," James seemed to think for a moment and then he told her, "Well, the vaults themselves are underground."

The goblin led the couple through a dark room and towards a metal cart that had lever on the front. Lily's brow furrowed as the goblin opened a side door on the cart and motioned for her and James to get inside. James helped her in first before he got in himself, wrapping his fingers on top of hers. Lily saw the track they were on had one direction and that was down.

Lily looked at James suspiciously, "What are we—"

His eyes sparkled mischievously at her hesitation and she knew in that moment not to trust her boyfriend, "Hold on."

The Goblin pulled the lever forward and suddenly the cart was rolling down the track, picking up speed. Lily grabbed her hair, twisting it so it wouldn't become tangled from the wind. She was reminded of the coasters at the fair as the cart rocked back and forth while they rode the rail. She threw her arms in the air and squealed so loudly that James did the same and they both burst into laughter against each other.

The cart seemed to know where it was going because the goblin wasn't steering. Lily tried to see landmarks but the twists and turns were abundant and mind-boggling. At one point they passed a large lake surrounded by rocks growing from the ceiling. Lily swore she saw a burst of fire from a dragon but the cart was moving too fast to really get a good glimpse at anything. James was enjoying her childlike wonder and leaned in to kiss her cheek as she stared.

Finally the cart began slowing down and Lily noticed the doors flashing by them were labeled with assigned numbers. Finally, the cart stopped.

"Vault 687." The goblin got out of the cart with the key and stuck it into the door.

The door unlocked, green smoke billowing out from the cracks. James got out of the cart, winking at Lily as he did so. She smirked back at him and wondered how on earth she went days on end without seeing that stupid boy and his smiles. The Goblin stepped back so James could partially open the door. Then James paused and glanced back at Lily in the cart.

"Lil do you have a bag for the gold? I don't want to weigh down my pockets…"

Lily rolled her eyes, "How many sickles are you getting James?"

Lily stood up in the cart and looked inside her purse, the only thing close to a small bag was a lace coin purse she used to hold her own knuts and sickles. Lily guessed she could always share since her boyfriend was planning on using the money to spoil her. Lily took her coin purse out and went to hand it to James who was leaning against the vault door.

She passed it to James with a smile, "We can share my coin purse."

He leaned forward to press a chaste kiss against her cheek before he opened the vault door and stepped inside. Lily let her eyes wander into the vault and that's when her heart fell to her stomach. Inside were mounds of gold coins. Columns of silver. Heaps of little bronze Knuts. Lily saw a small chest in the middle of golden galleons filled to the brim with what looked like bank notes. She watched as James casually strolled towards one of the piles of gold and pushed it all into her bag.

"Stop," she squeaked as the gold pieces hit her pathetic bag.

"What?" he asked naïvely while pausing in his attempt to fill her entire bag with golden coins.

"That's—that's enough." She muttered, eyes dropping from his in embarrassment.

James shrugged, "Probably, but you can never be sure."

Lily's chest tightened as she heard the casual tone he used to describe his money. Like he had more than enough to throw around at ice cream, at gifts, and at his girlfriend. James filled her little change purse all the way to the top so when he cinched the ties, a gold coin popped out and fell back into the mound it was taken from. James passed her the coin bag and it weighed down her hand the moment it landed in her palm.

Lily was quite certain she'd never seen so much money in her entire life. Lily had always known her boyfriend came from a wealthy family but as her eyes took in the heaps of money in the vault underground she really understood just how well off James Potter was. Suddenly the new robes every year and the casual way he spent money made sense. It was because he'd never had to worry about money, ever, in his entire life.

Lily had grown up wearing hand-me-downs from her sister. Lily had learned how to make her allowance last for months while she was at school. Lily had worn the same robes until the ends tattered, she'd never let food go to waste, and she always had to worry about money because her parents didn't have a lot of it. She was pretty sure the money James had just pushed into her purse could buy her a new broom and new robes with plenty left over.

James grabbed her hand as the goblin shut the vault door behind them. He kissed her wrist as she fell back into the cart but her smile wasn't true when he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Lily was quiet the ride back, leaning into James' shoulder. James noticed, most definitely, because when they'd finally made their way back onto the streets of Diagon Alley he finally confronted her. James pulled Lily into the white marble archways of Gringotts, glaring at her as she stared at their intertwined hands.

"Lily." When she didn't answer James placed his thumb under her chin and lifted her face so he could glare at her properly, "Don't."

Lily blinked at her boyfriend, his simple _don't_ echoing through her brain.

"What." She tried to lie but as usual, James saw right through her.

"You know what." He demanded, reaching a hand into her purse and pulling out the coin purse, shaking it in front of her face, "You looked like you'd seen a ghost when you walked into my vault."

"I'm quite used to seeing ghosts." She muttered back nonsensically.

Lily looked anywhere but at her filled-to-the-brim coin purse and instead scuffed her foot on the stone. James exhaled and placed the coins back into her purse. The weight made her shoulders drop even more. She looked up to see he was running his fingers through his thick black hair, a sign of agitation.

"You knew I was well off." He said, as if trying to decipher why she was acting the way she was.

"I didn't realize—"

"How rich my parents are?"

"How rich _you_ are."

Bitterly she dropped her eyes again and she let her hand hit against the coin purse in her bag. They came from two different worlds, not just magic vs. nonmagical…but two different financial worlds. Lily grew up in a house where leftovers were common and Christmas was frugal. James grew up in a house where waste was unnoticed and gold was replaceable.

"So what's wrong with that?" he asked.

Lily stared pointedly at the ground as she answered, "I'm not—I mean my family isn't—"

Lily finally brought her head up and his hazel eyes were boring into her passionately.

"I don't care about any of that." He said awkwardly and she managed a forced laugh.

"Of course you don't care!" she pressed her fingers to her temples, "You've never once even hinted at being judgmental of my family but…" when she tore her eyes away he reached out to grab her hand. "James." She said in disbelief, "What does anyone even _do_ with that much money?"

James shrugged, "I dunno, live comfortably?" He saw the flicker of a smile spread across her face so he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her tightly, "Spoil my friends and super hot girlfriend?"

He leaned down and kissed her casually on the lips, making sure to brush his thumb across her cheek lovingly. When he pulled back she was still staring at him in distress. She was dating a rich pureblood who joked about spoiling his muggleborn girlfriend with ice cream. Lily had no idea how'd she gotten so lucky in life. He sighed at her expression and placed his chin on the top of her head.

"Well," he said with a playful chuckle, "At least I know you aren't dating me for my money."

Lily pulled back and shot him an annoyed glare, "Are you sure it's all real?" she debated, "I mean you had mountains of gold!"

James rolled his eyes at her, "Of course it's real, Lily. _Merlin_."

"But where did it come from?" Lily asked, her questions finally spilling out, "Are all purebloods this well off?"

James shook his finger at her immediately, "No. Absolutely not." He raised his nose in the air, "Besides, the Potter money was all well earned—my father worked his arse off for most of it."

"But how?" Lily demanded, "I mean, James you've got mountains of gold. _Mountains_."

James was flushing, clearly embarrassed by her attention to detail, "My dad invented potions and stuff."

Lily tilted her head at James, "You never told me your father was a potioneer. What did he invent?"

James scratched his head, clearly embarrassed, "Ever heard of Sleekeazy?"

"Like the hair product?" Lily's eyes opened wide with comprehension and when he flushed she finally laughed for real since they'd entered Gringotts.

Witches with bushy hair used Sleekeazy's hair potion to flatten their curls. Lily's curly haired roommate Anita used it everyday, swearing by the product. It must've worked because Lily hadn't seen Anita with curly hair since third year. Still laughing, Lily reached up to James' scalp and she ran her fingers through the messy strands playfully. If anyone needed Sleekeazy's Hair Potion it was James Potter.

"You're joking." Lily whispered, completely befuddled as she tugged her fingers through his hair, "Your dad invented the product you could use the most with this rat's nest."

"I happen to love my hair." James said proudly as Lily massaged his scalp, "Rats nest and all."

Lily had to agree that her favorite part of James was the way his black hair sat atop his scalp, unruly and messy. She loved running her fingers through the strands just as much as James did. Even still, it was hilarious that all the gold in James' vault was thanks to his father creating a potion that could rid James of his characteristic black hair with two drops.

James leaned down and placed his lips over hers again, rocking her backwards with a playful push to her hips. Lily smiled fervently against his lips and he bit her playfully before pulling away from her. She continued smiling at him, letting out a wicked giggle that made James lift one of his bushy eyebrows.

"What now?" he laughed, leaning his forehead against hers as she wound her fingers into his hair at the nape of his neck.

She stated with a playful smirk as he slowly walked her back into one of the large pillars at the front of the Gringott's building, "You'd think you'd beat my marks in Potions with your genetics…and yet I _still_ whooped your arse in the final."

His lips caught her wicked laugh and he swallowed it, refusing to allow her to breathe properly until her laugh turned into a happy sigh against his lips. He pulled away and then caught her in another kiss before leaning his head against her forehead. She let her hands fall around his shoulders. James smiled as she opened her eyes and met his gaze.

"Can we put a spending limit on our Christmas gifts?" she enquired.

"Absolutely not." He scoffed, "Besides, I already got you your gift."

Lily paled considerably and he laughed while he swung one arm around her shoulder, dragging her down the stairs of Gringrotts. Lily leaned into his touch and as they walked down the street the money in her coin purse jingled. The sound was something she'd just have to get used too.

"Just promise not to buy me a dragon or anything equally as ridiculous?" Lily begged James.

"No dragons?" James exclaimed loudly and passerby stared, "Dammit Lily, now I gotta return Mr. Sniffles."

Lily pinched his side, "I'm serious James, be frugal."

He stopped them in the middle of the road, twirling her so she was facing him and he had both hands on her shoulders, "You're my girlfriend and I maintain certain rights to buy you whatever I want. Whenever I want. Including right now, because I'm buying that ice cream you wanted."

Lily wrinkled her nose at him, showing him her annoyance but inside her heart was beating frantically.

"You're stupid." She told him and he scoffed at her insult, throwing his arm back around her shoulder to lead her towards the ice cream shop.

She was in love with him.

She was in love with his stupid smiles, his stupid jokes, and his stupid family.

"Well there's one thing good about your weird aversion towards my mountains of money." James commented as they reentered the ice cream shop.

"And what's what?"

"You definitely aren't shagging me for my money."

Lily hoped her well-aimed punch in the gut hurt but James just laughed and pressed a kiss against her cheek as they walked up to the ice cream counter. Lily smiled thankfully as James bought them both a hot fudge sundae to share. They sat down at a booth by the windows decorated with Christmas lights. James stole the cherry and licked the whip cream from his fingers. Lily fought to eat all the chocolate ice cream before him. Their spoons battled in the bowl and he won, taking a large spoonful of the chocolate ice cream with a triumphant grin.

"Rich prat." She said, albeit affectionately.

James flashed a wicked grin as he licked his spoon, "Love you."

And she loved him too, for richer or for poorer.


End file.
